Three Steps to Amp Up Boat Show Marketing Using Facebook

By Jim Jabaay

Our local boat shows still drive the majority of revenue at the dealer level and in some cases, the budget to exhibit is over half of your annual marketing budget.

Just exhibiting, however, and marketing your attendance with emails is not enough sometimes in today’s digital world.

Leveraging Facebook with the below action plan of Pre, During and Post boat show can help increase the level of attendance and success in your upcoming shows.

Pre-Show: Create a Facebook post on your business page a month in advance announcing you will be exhibiting at the local boat show. Let your Facebook fans know of any show specials you may be promoting at the show. Then boost the post to in the boat market local shoppers using Facebook data to create a target audience. As an extra benefit, pin the post to the top of your business Facebook fan page for everyone to see when they visit your page.

During the Show: Create a local awareness ad on Facebook. This Facebook’s ad option allows you to target an audience within 1 mile of the boat show location. The focus on those attending the boat show keeps your dealership and brands top of mind while they are on Facebook walking around looking at competitor’s boats.

Post-Show: Take your list of attendees to your booth to build a custom audience in Facebook. Create a targeted ad to help move your prospects further down the buying journey, encouraging them to take advantage of your boat show special when they mention the special in store. Remember, in creating each of these posts, make sure your photos have minimal text and your ad copy has a strong call to action for the highest level of results. Putting a Facebook marketing plan together for before, during and after your largest event of the year will help you achieve a higher level of success in your next boat show!

Jim Jabaay is the vice president of LotVantage, a digital marketing company for dealerships and original equipment manufacturers. LotVantage specializes in posting dealer inventory to Craigslist, eBay and driving engagement on social media on behalf of their customers. Visit lotvantage.com or call 1-888-569-3865